SABRE Corporation has released a new global travel industry study, ‘Mapping Travel’s New Normal’, which identifies prominent shifts in travel.
The wide-ranging study, highlighting the different areas of focus for airlines and travel agencies, involved both quantitative and qualitative research with 500+ decision-makers from these two sectors.
Participants from across 20 countries in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific) and the Americas, were questioned about the impact of the pandemic on their customers and their businesses, as well as the implications for the future of the travel industry.
Key trends identified by surveyed agencies include the importance of organised and connected trips to cut through travel complexities for customers; the ongoing prominence of domestic and regional travel and the challenges (and opportunities) for business travel recovery.
Meanwhile, major trends listed by airlines include increasing consumer bookings protection the growth of “bleisure” as a catalyst for potential corporate travel recovery, and offering more sustainable flight options to meet customer demands.
Airlines are also focused on increasing domestic and regional routes, as well as how new product formats such as organised and connected trips can help optimize recovery opportunities while creating increasingly personalized experiences for travellers.
Other findings:
- More than a third of airline and agency leaders indicated they believe travel will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, with a third see it happening in 2025 or beyond.
- On “revenge travel”, 68% of travel leaders forecast a higher spend from consumers on their future travel plans, and that travellers are considering more decision factors than ever before committing to a trip.
- 82% of airlines executives expect the combination of business and leisure to be even more prominent post-recovery.
- More than half of agencies surveyed said they are spending more time now looking into new tools, services and technologies – a particular area of focus in APAC for 71% of responding agencies.
- 92% of travel agencies indicated that they want the support of travel technology partners to create a more seamless experience in terms of shopping, booking and fulfilment, while 89% responded that they want useful tools to personalize travel.
- 96% of airlines surveyed expect enhanced possibilities to offer growth opportunities and improved customer service and satisfaction scores.
Darren Rickey, Sabre’s senior vice president of airline global sales and accounts, said: “One thing that struck us as we were carrying out the research was the unprecedented pace of change in the past few months.”
“This of course presents an enormous opportunity, but it also puts strains on travel businesses who must adapt their plans, processes and operations to address these potential changes.”
* Click on image below to view/download infographic for the full ‘map’ (PDF).
• Featured image credit: Imagesines/Getty Images
